Bumper stickers

My parents were never bumper sticker people, but I on the other hand, am very much one of those assholes who uses every possible medium to tell people what I think. In 2004, I had a John Kerry sticker on my car. This year, I have a "Bush's Third Term - McCain" sticker, and I'm waiting for another one from Moveon.org that I can't remember. But it's probably similar to the McSame thing.

Anyway, some of my favourite topics on bumper stickers are the nationalistic bullshit stickers that are so in vogue since 9/11. The ones with an American flag SOMEWHERE on them are the most common, and rather frequently they say something that caters exclusively to suburban white housewives, who are the only people concerned about this: "These colors don't run." No, but they apparently fade and wash out when faced with prolonged exposure to sunlight.

One I saw on the back of a truck on the way to Indianapolis was sort of long (but it's a truck, so he's got room). "These Colors Don't Run, I Support Our Troops, My Country, Right or Wrong, No Aid or Comfort to the Enemy ... No Way!" This sticker wins the prize not only for most long and convoluted bit of shit, but also for most cliches squeezed into a run-on sentence and most unnecessary last line. Really, do you need the "No way!"? I'm pretty sure "No aid or comfort to the enemy" gets across the point that you don't like "the enemy", who I can only assume refers to the Dark Lord Sauron.

There are several "American Soldier" stickers that the military issues in boxes of Trix. At least that's where I think they come from, because when people have four or five of the same sticker on one car, it's either overkill or they felt bad throwing the damn things away. If they really have that many American Soldiers in their family, why doesn't the military make up a bunch of "Member of an Army Family" or something similar stickers?

One I haven't seen in a while is "Charlton Heston is my president". I haven't seen it for longer than he's been dead, so that's not the reason. And I live in an area surrounded by farms, with significant amounts of Republican-voting Christian Right suburbs, so that's not the reason. Maybe they figure they don't need to advertise that they carry a gun with them wherever they go. Or maybe they intentionally don't advertise it in the hopes that someone will try to pick a fight with them and they'll get to use their gun for the first time outside a firing range. This is a major reason I try to keep a lid on any road rage.

Despite all those nationalistic cliche stickers, I do enjoy reading the things. I actually will speed up to read someone's bumper stickers. It's definitely something to do when I'm trying not to think about how I'm in a metal box travelling at terminal velocity along a poorly maintained piece of composite-rock, with lots of other people in similar situations, except THEY are too busy on their phones to pay attention to the guy in the next lane whose car isn't as large as theirs and doesn't know they're trying to merge because they didn't fucking indicate it, or indeed look.

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Now playing: The Fiery Furnaces - Single Again
via FoxyTunes

TV is fun!

I've been watching a LOT of TV lately. Granted, since I grew up in the golden age of basic cable, that's an unsurprising statement, but I've been upping the ante, despite the main networks being done with their seasons.

As far as properly televised shows, Law and Order: CI has two dedicated networks. Even if I don't watch the whole show, if I get there before the last ten minutes, I can get a really nice summing-up and it's like I saw the whole thing. I prefer SVU, honestly, but it just isn't on as much, so I'll go with the slightly twitchy, suddenly grey and fat Detective Goren. I have no desire to watch In Plain Sight though. Cable originals are a rare thing for me.

Speaking of cable originals, Battlestar Galactica's season 4.0 just wrapped ... holy crap! Every time I see an episode, nay, every time I see the cold open of that show, I think of the completely true and indisputable words of Dwight Schrute from the Office:

Do you watch Battlestar Galactica? No? Then you're an idiot.

The Office finished a month ago, and this season had its highs and lows. Although, I suppose if I was disappointed with certain things in the finale, it's because the writers are doing their job very well.

My lovely fiancée Liza and I managed to catch up with House MD this year. I think it may be one of the best shows on television, and because of it I've started adding other Hugh Laurie projects to my Netflix queue. A Bit of Fry and Laurie stands out, partly because I enjoy semi-nonsensical Pythonesque sketch shows, and partly because of the song "America".

Doctor Who is entering its final stretch on BBC One. New Who is excellent, but Old Who has a definite charm. I'm watching season 11 at the moment, which is the third Doctor's last season, and Sarah Jane Smith's first. I'm greatly looking forward to Tom Baker's tenure as Doctor Who, almost as much as I am looking forward to Rose Tyler's return in season 30.

Speaking of Billie Piper, I'm going to be checking out Secret Diary of a Call Girl whenever I get a chance, and its Shotime lead-in series, Weeds. I've heard good things about both, and I sincerely hope I don't get sick of it like I did with Huff, the last Shotime series I tried to watch.

Despite previous denouncements of non-Family Guy/Futurama/Robot Chicken series on Adult Swim, I've really grown to like such series as Venture Bros, Metalocalypse, and Boondocks. I've finished watching Metalocalypse series one, in the middle of Venture Bros series two rewatch, and I've just got Boondocks and it's queued up.

Liza introduced me (ten years late) to X-files, which we finished watching about two months ago. I say finished watching, but really we just quit after the first two discs of season eight, because if David Duchovny's not in it, I really don't give a shit. She did buy the Lone Gunmen complete series though, which is very amusing, although I can see why it didn't get renewed ... it sort of depends on Conspiracy-of-the-Week, which can get old if one isn't careful. Also, the pilot, which aired in spring 2001, can never be re-aired, because of the subject matter.

Throughout the summer, or possibly early fall, I'm going to pick up Babylon 5 from the library and start on that. I've heard enough good things, and I certainly can't rely on rewatching Galactica and Firefly all the time. There's plenty of good sci-fi out there, and it's not all in the same two series, dammit! If I get desperate I might try Stargate, but I sincerely doubt it.

The best thing ever is TV on DVD. Seriously, if I can watch a good show without constant panicking and scrambling for the mute button because that goddamn credit report advert is on and I'd rather commit harikari than listen to it, that makes the show so much better.